RIP Mary Tamm

It is with regret that the news was announced yesterday that actress Mary Tamm had died. She was 62 and had lost a long battle against cancer.

The actress is well known to Doctor Who fans for her appearance as the first incarnation of Romanadvoratrelundar or Romana (or Bob as the Fourth Doctor tried to call her in “The Ribos Operation“). She only appeared for one season during the show’s Sixteenth Season (also known as the Key to Time season). She first appeared in Part 1 of “The Ribos Operation” and her final appearance was in Part 6 of “The Armageddon Factor“. Her character would continue despite the depature of Mary Tamm and she would regenerate into Lalla Ward.

Steven Moffat has spoken about the appeal of Mary Tamm.

I remember Mary Tamm’s first appearance so vividly – the ice Queen on the TARDIS. The Time Lady who thought the Doctor was HER companion. Perfectly brought to life by Mary, with such style and wit, you always thought she could have kicked the Doctor out of the time machine and got on with the adventure herself. A generation of little girls threw away the idea of being an assistant, and decided to fly the TARDIS for themselves

I remember Mary Tamm’s time on the TARDIS incredibly well. I had bought the Key to Time DVD set several years ago and sat through multiple episodes enjoying her back and forth banter with Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor who was finally coming into his own. Additionally she had the rare opportunity of appearing in a Douglas Adams story “The Pirate Planet” (the second part of the Key to Time story). She will be very much missed.